Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. We're here to really crack
Speaker 1: open some dense source material and bring you the insights
Speaker 1: that matter.
Speaker 2: Most things you can actually use exactly.
Speaker 1: And today we're plunging right into the heart of digital security.
Speaker 1: Network vulnerability assessment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big one. Technology is moving so fast,
Speaker 2: everything's connected.
Speaker 1: Which means organizations are just well more vulnerable than ever, right,
Speaker 1: and knowing how to secure that digital front line. It
Speaker 1: isn't just for the IT pros anymore. You need to
Speaker 1: understand this stuff too, absolutely, So our mission for this
Speaker 1: deep dive is simple, give you a crystal clear understanding
Speaker 1: of what network vulnerability assessment really is, why it's so crucial,
Speaker 1: and how the pros actually find and fix those security loopholes.
Speaker 2: We're drawing on that source you provided, Network Vulnerability Assessment
Speaker 2: by Saga Rahalcar.
Speaker 1: That's the one, and by the end you should have
Speaker 1: a really solid framework for the whole process, from the
Speaker 1: basic ideas right through to advanced techniques and what happens
Speaker 1: after the assessment, all without getting being sort of bogged
Speaker 1: down in jargon.
Speaker 2: Right, And like you said, this isn't just super technical stuff.
Speaker 2: Understanding this helps anyone navigate well, the world we live
Speaker 2: in now, we want to turn all this info into
Speaker 2: something genuinely actionable for you.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack it then, before we even talk about
Speaker 1: finding weaknesses, we kind of need to get the fundamentals
Speaker 1: of security down a bedrock. Really, yeah, the bedrock which
Speaker 1: starts with the CIA triad.
Speaker 2: Uh huh. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability not.
Speaker 1: The spies, ah right, not the spies. These are the
Speaker 1: three absolute critical tenets. So confidentiality, think of that like
Speaker 1: keeping a secret, right your bank password, only you should.
Speaker 2: Know it, simple enough.
Speaker 1: Then integrity, that's about trustworthiness. Accuracy if you send a
Speaker 1: message you wanted to arrive exactly a cent, no tampering
Speaker 1: makes sense. And availability is just well being able to
Speaker 1: get to your stuff when you need it, like logging
Speaker 1: into your online bank whenever you want, no disruption.
Speaker 2: It's amazing how simple they sound. But the attacks they
Speaker 2: can get really sophisticated. Oh so, like for confidentiality, well,
Speaker 2: for confidentiality, you've got packet sniffing, grabbing data off the network,
Speaker 2: password attacks, guessing, brute force. But often it's.
Speaker 1: The human element, a social engineering.
Speaker 2: Exactly, tricking people or phishing, you know those fake emails,
Speaker 2: trying to get you to give up info or trying
Speaker 2: to steal secrets.
Speaker 1: So it's not always super technical hacking. Good point. What
Speaker 1: about integrity? How do they mess with that?
Speaker 2: For integrity, there's the Salami attack.
Speaker 1: It's kind of clever slammy attack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tiny slices, dividing an attack into minuscule changes, like
Speaker 2: fractions of ascent from lots of accounts, so it goes unnoticed.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Then data diddling, changing data as it's going in and
Speaker 2: man in the middle attacks where they intercept and maybe
Speaker 2: altered data flying between two points. That can lead to
Speaker 2: session hijacking.
Speaker 1: Making over someone's logged in session precisely.
Speaker 2: And for availability, that's denial of service right, d DOS,
Speaker 2: that's the big one. Yeah, overwhelming a system so nobody
Speaker 2: can use it. Syn floods target the connection process specifically,
Speaker 2: But it's not just digital. Physical attacks, cutting power, messing
Speaker 2: with the server room's climate control. Even you know, natural disasters, floods, earthquakes,
Speaker 2: they take things down too, right.
Speaker 1: So it's not just firewalls. Mother nature can knock out availability. Okay,
Speaker 1: Beyond CIA, there's this sort of security dictionary for access control.
Speaker 2: Yeah, helps clarify the steps.
Speaker 1: It starts with identification, you claim who you are like
Speaker 1: typing username step one. Then authentication proving it password, maybe
Speaker 1: a token or biometrics like a fingerprint, something you have
Speaker 1: or are right.
Speaker 2: You gotta prove your you.
Speaker 1: Only then comes authorization. What do you actually allowed to
Speaker 1: do or see?
Speaker 2: Once you're authenticated your permissions Basically like that guest list analogy.
Speaker 2: You're in the party, but maybe not the VIP room exactly.
Speaker 1: And once you have access, someone needs to track what
Speaker 1: you do.
Speaker 2: That's auditing uh huh, logging actions, who did what when?
Speaker 2: It's for accountability, spotting weird stuff.
Speaker 1: And those logs feed into accounting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, basically tying actions back to a specific proven identity.
Speaker 2: And lastly, non repudiation.
Speaker 1: Making sure someone can't later deny they did something you got.
Speaker 2: It often involves things like digital signatures proof.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we have these core ideas. Now let's really
Speaker 1: nail down the terms we're assessing for vulnerability, threat risk.
Speaker 1: They get mixed up sometimes they definitely do.
Speaker 2: Okay. So a vulnerability is just a weakness.
Speaker 1: A flaw like a crack in a wall.
Speaker 2: Perfect analogy, weak password, unpatched app missing security setting.
Speaker 1: That's the vulnerability, okay, and a threat.
Speaker 2: A threat is anything that could cause harm by exploiting
Speaker 2: that weakness. It's the potential danger of virus, a power surge,
Speaker 2: even someone making a mistake.
Speaker 1: So the heavy rain hitting the cracked wall.
Speaker 2: Kind of yeah. An exposure is being susceptible to loss
Speaker 2: if that threat hits that vulnerabilit the potential for the flood.
Speaker 2: Sticking with your analogy, hasn't happened, but it could, which
Speaker 2: leads to risk, right. Risk is the actual likelihood that
Speaker 2: the threat will exploit the vulnerability and cause harm, often
Speaker 2: calculated as risk likelihood, impact.
Speaker 1: Likely at times impact it makes sense.
Speaker 2: And the fix that's a safeguard or countermeasure anything that
Speaker 2: reduces the vulnerability or mitigates the risk. Patching the crack in.
Speaker 1: The wall, and the path the attacker uses.
Speaker 2: That's the attack vector, the route they take.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the source summarizes it neatly. Assets are endangered
Speaker 1: by threats that exploit vulnerabilities, resulting in exposure, which is
Speaker 1: a risk that could be mitigated using safeguards.
Speaker 2: That ties it all together nicely.
Speaker 1: So what does this all mean for businesses? For organizations?
Speaker 1: Why poor resources into security assessments. Sounds like a lot
Speaker 1: of effort.
Speaker 2: Oh it is, but it's a business imperative. Several big reasons. First,
Speaker 2: regulatory compliance like IPA, PCIDSS exactly, Sarbanz Oxley too. They
Speaker 2: often require regular assessments, huge finds if you don't comply. Second,
Speaker 2: satisfying customer demands.
Speaker 1: Customers are asking for this now more and more.
Speaker 2: They want assurance, especially before signing big contracts. Third, response
Speaker 2: to incidents.
Speaker 1: Like want to cry that ransomware.
Speaker 2: Nightmare precisely a big attack often triggers a serious look
Speaker 2: at vulnerability management. Fourth, it's a competitive edge. If you
Speaker 2: can show you have a solid program, you look better
Speaker 2: than a competitor who doesn't. And finally, the most important
Speaker 2: one safeguarding critical infrastructure.
Speaker 1: Just doing the right thing to protect data and systems
Speaker 1: regardless of rules.
Speaker 2: That's the core driver really.
Speaker 1: And here's where it gets interesting for the being counters.
Speaker 1: Justifying the cost our source actually gives a simple ROI calculation.
Speaker 2: To turn on investment. Right.
Speaker 1: If a potential attack loss is say seventy five thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: and the program costs twenty five thousand dollars, the formula
Speaker 1: is gain cost one hundred cost.
Speaker 2: So seventy five K twenty five k, twenty five k.
Speaker 1: Which comes out to two hundred percent ROI. That's in
Speaker 1: a powerful argument. It reframes security not as just a cost,
Speaker 1: but has prevented loss an investment.
Speaker 2: And often that seventy five k is an underestimate considering
Speaker 2: reputational damage, legal fees.
Speaker 1: Good point. The real cost of a breach can be
Speaker 1: way higher, which underlines why getting buy in from the
Speaker 1: top is so vital.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. The source talks about two approaches for implementation, bottom
Speaker 2: up versus top down. Bottom up starts with the tech staff.
Speaker 2: Often ad hoc struggles long term without management support.
Speaker 1: Budget, you know, yeah, fizzles out.
Speaker 2: Maybe whereas top down is initiated, directed, governed by senior management,
Speaker 2: clear plan, budget resources, much higher chance of success.
Speaker 1: Makes sense though maybe bottom up can sometimes kickstart things,
Speaker 1: show the need.
Speaker 2: It can definitely serve as that proof of concept. Yeah,
Speaker 2: get the ball rolling to hopefully get that top down
Speaker 2: support eventually.
Speaker 1: What's managements driving? They use these governance documents right, policy standard.
Speaker 2: Right, there's a hierarchy. Policy is top level mandatory, like
Speaker 2: we will protect customer data. The standard sets an acceptable
Speaker 2: quality level. Maybe referencing specific tech. A procedure is the
Speaker 2: detailed steps the sop. Here's exactly how we do it,
Speaker 2: like a checklist pretty much, and a guideline is just
Speaker 2: recommendations best practices but not strictly mandatory.
Speaker 1: Okay, framework in place. Now, what about the actual testing?
Speaker 1: What kinds are there?
Speaker 2: Well? Security testing is the broad term making sure controls work,
Speaker 2: automated scans, manual checks. It's ongoing. But the key distinction
Speaker 2: people often ask about is vulnerability assessment VA versus penetration
Speaker 2: testing PT.
Speaker 1: Right, what's the difference.
Speaker 2: The source uses a great bank robbery analogy. A VA
Speaker 2: is like the robbers scouting the bank, tasing the joint exactly,
Speaker 2: noting the weak doors, single guard, no cameras. They're checking
Speaker 2: for vulnerabilities. PT is actually robbing the bank, exploiting those
Speaker 2: weaknesses to see if they can get in and get
Speaker 2: the loot.
Speaker 1: So VA finds the holes, PT tries to punch through them.
Speaker 2: You got it, and you really can't do a good
Speaker 2: PT without a thorough VA.
Speaker 1: First makes sense? Are there other types?
Speaker 2: Yeah? A security assessment is broader, more detailed, includes risk assessment, suggests, fixes,
Speaker 2: goes beyond just tools and a security audit is similar,
Speaker 2: but done by independent auditors.
Speaker 1: Like the big four firms ey Deloitte, YEP.
Speaker 2: The goal there is demonstrating security effectiveness to outsiders, getting
Speaker 2: that unbiased validation.
Speaker 1: Okay, now let's walk through the actual journey. What are
Speaker 1: the phases when a pro does a VA. It's not
Speaker 1: just running a scanner.
Speaker 2: Is it not at all? It's very methodical. Phase one
Speaker 2: is prerequisites, the groundwork. This is critical. Honestly, assessments can
Speaker 2: fail right here if you don't get this right. It's
Speaker 2: involved first target scoping and planning. This needs your input.
Speaker 2: What exactly are we testing? List the critical assets web servers, databases, suore,
Speaker 2: but also printers, smart TVs, IP cameras, things people forget.
Speaker 1: Oh right, those connected devices, and.
Speaker 2: Then gathering requirements checklists, figuring out suitable testing times you
Speaker 2: don't want to craft production systems midday. Identifying all stakeholders
Speaker 2: as key to who's usually involved exact management, IT security team,
Speaker 2: the VA lead tester obviously, the asset owners, maybe third
Speaker 2: party providers, even end users. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: Then you decide the type of VA right.
Speaker 2: Location based external from the Internet like an outside attacker,
Speaker 2: versus internal from inside the network like a disprintled employee okay,
Speaker 2: knowledge based black box zero prior knowledge simulates an external hacker,
Speaker 2: takes longer, White box full knowledge. Source code diagram simulates
Speaker 2: an insider and gray box partial knowledge somewhere in between.
Speaker 1: Black, white, gray got it any.
Speaker 2: Others Yeah, announced or unannounced. Automated scans fast but prone
Speaker 2: to false positives, misdesigned flaws versus manual testing. Expert driven
Speaker 2: better findings, but slower, costlier. Also authenticated with logins versus
Speaker 2: unauthenticated scans and agent lists versus agent based.
Speaker 1: Scans, lots of choices. This all leads to estimating resources.
Speaker 2: YEP, estimating resources and deliverables, man hours, tools needed, and
Speaker 2: crucially adding time padding maybe twenty percent cuting for what
Speaker 2: things go wrong. Network devices might block your scans, systems
Speaker 2: might not respond, a scan might accidentally crash, a service
Speaker 2: user IDs might get locked out. You need buffer time
Speaker 2: Murphy's law, and you formalize it in a test plan
Speaker 2: or statement of work, SOW scope, methods, rules of engagement, liability.
Speaker 2: It's all spelled.
Speaker 1: Out and the final critical step.
Speaker 2: Getting approval and signing MDAs Non disclosure agreements absolutely vital
Speaker 2: to protect your sensitive information during the.
Speaker 1: Test okay, groundwork done. Phase two information gathering, sharpening the.
Speaker 2: Acts exactly like that link and quote. Spend most of
Speaker 2: the time preparing This phase is crucial detective.
Speaker 1: Work passive versus active gathering right correct.
Speaker 2: Passive means no direct contact using public sources. Think showed
Speaker 2: in for finding Internet connected devices, multi go for mapping relationships,
Speaker 2: the harvester for emails. You're not touching the target directly.
Speaker 2: You stay in an active does involve direct contact. Using
Speaker 2: tools to probe the target, like port scanners or network
Speaker 2: mapping tools. You get more info, leave footprints they might
Speaker 2: detect you.
Speaker 1: Sharpen the acts. Now. Phase three enumeration and vulnerability assessment.
Speaker 1: Precision targeting.
Speaker 2: Getting specific right enumeration is about digging into the services
Speaker 2: running on the ports. You found, what version of web server?
Speaker 2: What type of FTP server? Getting those details using tools
Speaker 2: like nmap.
Speaker 1: Why are the specific versions so important.
Speaker 2: Because vulnerabilities are often version specific. Knowing the exact version
Speaker 2: lets you look up known exploits, which.
Speaker 1: Leads to the actual vulnerability assessment YEP.
Speaker 2: Now you bring in specialized VA tools like open vas,
Speaker 2: for instance. They probe those enumerated services, check them against
Speaker 2: databases of known vulnerabilities and generate reports detailing the findings,
Speaker 2: usually with severity levels critical, high, medium, low.
Speaker 1: Now we're finding the actual cracks, which brings us to
Speaker 1: phase four, gaining network access. The break in the part everyone.
Speaker 2: Thinks of This is where the exploitation happens. Could be
Speaker 2: gaining remote access directly, or maybe tricking a user into
Speaker 2: running a payload that connects back to the attacker. Password
Speaker 2: cracking is a big one.
Speaker 1: Dictionary attacks brute force, yeah.
Speaker 2: Using word lists trying every combination. Also rainbow tables for
Speaker 2: cracking hashed passwords, though salting adding random data to passwords
Speaker 2: before hashing makes them less effective. Now Yeah tools can
Speaker 2: help identify the hash type first, like figuring out.
Speaker 1: The lock before making the key. What else?
Speaker 2: Attackers might create backdoors, patching legitimate files with malicious code,
Speaker 2: or exploit remote services directly using frameworks like metasploit, targeting
Speaker 2: known flaws in specific software versions to gain control a shell.
Speaker 2: Even routers and other embedded devices can be hacked, which.
Speaker 1: Brings up that human element again. How do attackers get
Speaker 1: us to help them?
Speaker 2: Social engineering using toolkits like the Social Engineering Toolkit SAT
Speaker 2: to craft believable phishing emails fake websites. The goal is
Speaker 2: to trick a victim into clicking a link or opening
Speaker 2: a file that executes malware, giving the attacker that reverse connection.
Speaker 2: It often bypasses technical defenses entirely.
Speaker 1: The human firewall feeling scary okay? Phase five assessing web
Speaker 1: application security the Achilles heel. So much of what you
Speaker 1: do online involves web.
Speaker 2: Apps absolutely critical banking, shopping, email. A single web bat
Speaker 2: flaw can be disastrous, and crucially, automated scanners alone are
Speaker 2: enough here Why now they missed design flaws problems in
Speaker 2: the business logic? You need manual testing too often starts
Speaker 2: with application profiling, figuring out which apps are most critical.
Speaker 1: And then you test against common weaknesses like the OOS
Speaker 1: PAP ten.
Speaker 2: Exactly, things like authentication or credential sense securely, our error
Speaker 2: message is generic? Is there a strong password policy? Maps
Speaker 2: to OOS? A two? Broken authentication and authorization testing. If
Speaker 2: users can bypass controls access things they shouldn't, maybe escalate privileges.
Speaker 2: That's a five broken access control?
Speaker 1: What else is key? For web apps?
Speaker 2: Session management, secure cookies, preventing things like cross site request
Speaker 2: forgery CSRF, where an attacker tricks your browser into doing
Speaker 2: something unwanted and a huge one. Input validation checking what
Speaker 2: users type into forms yes, both on the client site,
Speaker 2: in the browser, and crucially on the server side. This
Speaker 2: prevents things like cross site scripting XSS SQL injection. So
Speaker 2: many big vulnerabilities stem from bad input validation. It maps
Speaker 2: to several OASP points like injection and XSS.
Speaker 1: So double checking inputs is vital absolutely.
Speaker 2: Then there's security misconfiguration harding the servers, disabling defaults, proper
Speaker 2: error handling that's A six, and business logic.
Speaker 1: Flaws the ones scanners can't find.
Speaker 2: Right means manual testing, understanding the workflow like that e
Speaker 2: commerce example where you could tamper with the payment amount.
Speaker 2: Also auditing and logging a ten, tracking who does what
Speaker 2: in the app and cryptography A three. Using strong encryption
Speaker 2: for data valid SSLTLS certificates. Tools like OSPSTA or burp
Speaker 2: suite help test all this.
Speaker 1: Okay, web apps covered. What if an attacker gets initial
Speaker 1: access but it's just a regular user account. Phase six
Speaker 1: privilege escalation the inside.
Speaker 2: Job right gaining higher privileges. Operating systems have these protection rings.
Speaker 2: Ring zero is the kernel super powerful. Ring three is
Speaker 2: user applications least powerful. Escalation is about moving up.
Speaker 1: And there are two types, horizontal and vertical.
Speaker 2: Yeah, horizontal is accessing data if someone at the same
Speaker 2: level like a coworker. Vertical is going up a normal
Speaker 2: user gaining admin or root privileges. That's the bigger goal,
Speaker 2: usually getting the keys to the kingdom exactly, exploiting system
Speaker 2: flaws kernel bugs. There are various techniques.
Speaker 1: Once they're in with high privileges Phase seven maintaining access
Speaker 1: and clearing tracks the covert operator staying hidden.
Speaker 2: Maintaining access means setting up persistence ways to get back
Speaker 2: in easily even if the system reboots, like leaving.
Speaker 1: A backdoor and covering their tracks, clearing.
Speaker 2: Tracks and trails, deleting logs, clearing command history, erasing the evidence.
Speaker 2: They might even use anti forensics techniques like changing file
Speaker 2: time stamps with tools like timestomp to confuse any investigation later.
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, so the assessment finds all these potential issues,
Speaker 1: but finding them is only half the story, right.
Speaker 2: What happens next crucial point? You need to manage and
Speaker 2: act on the findings. First step scoring, you get a
Speaker 2: list of vulnerabilities you need to prioritize.
Speaker 1: Not all vulnes are created equal exactly.
Speaker 2: That's where the Common Vulnerability Scoring System CBSS comes in.
Speaker 2: That's a standard, open way to score vulnerabilities based on
Speaker 2: specific characteristics. It gives you a consistent numerical score.
Speaker 1: And it considers lots of factors.
Speaker 2: It does the base metrics look at the vulnerability itself,
Speaker 2: exploitability factors like attack vector, network, local attack complexity easy, hard,
Speaker 2: privileges required none, admin user interaction needed, not needed. Scope
Speaker 2: affects just this component or others too?
Speaker 1: Okay? How easy is it to exploit? Right?
Speaker 2: And then impact metrics, confidentiality, integrity, availability, How bad is
Speaker 2: the damage if it is exploited. You plug these into
Speaker 2: a calculator, get a score from zero to ten and
Speaker 2: that maps to low, medium, high critical.
Speaker 1: So CBSS gives you that priority list, but you also
Speaker 1: need proactive.
Speaker 2: Defense definitely threat modeling. This is about thinking like an
Speaker 2: attacker before you even build something ideally during the design phase.
Speaker 1: Like designing the fort to withstand attacks from the.
Speaker 2: Start, perfect analogy. It helps build security in leagues to
Speaker 2: structured discussions, finds flaws early, reduces the attack surface.
Speaker 1: Lots of benefits and there are methodologies for this.
Speaker 2: Stride and dread Yeah, Stride helps identify threat types spoofing, tampering, repudiation,
Speaker 2: information disclosure, denial of service, elevation of privileges. Dread helps
Speaker 2: rate the threats you find, damage, reproducibility, exploitability, affected users
Speaker 2: discoverability gives them a risk. Grating tools can help automate
Speaker 2: parts of this.
Speaker 1: Building securely, finding flaws early. Then there's the.
Speaker 2: Ongoing work catching and hardening. Patching is just applying updates
Speaker 2: to fix and now vulnerabilities. Think Microsoft's patch Tuesday. Tools
Speaker 2: can check if systems are up to date and hardening.
Speaker 2: That's configuring the underlying systems securely, web servers, databases, the
Speaker 2: OS itself using guidelines like the CIS benchmarks industry best
Speaker 2: practices for secure configurations.
Speaker 1: Block everything down and finally telling people what you found
Speaker 1: of what's being done.
Speaker 2: Reporting and metrics crucial. You need clear reports tailored to
Speaker 2: the audience, executive reports for management, high level summary, key risks, progress,
Speaker 2: detailed technical reports for the IT team specifics how to
Speaker 2: fix it. Proof of concept tools like DRAWTIS or Faraday
Speaker 2: help manage.
Speaker 1: This and measuring success. How do you know if the
Speaker 1: program is working?
Speaker 2: Key metrics things like meantime to detect MTTD. How fast
Speaker 2: do we find vulmes meantime to resolve MTTR? How fast
Speaker 2: do we fix them? Scanner coverage are we scanning everything
Speaker 2: we should? Vulnerability reopen rate? Are fixes actually sticking?
Speaker 1: What else?
Speaker 2: Number of exceptions granted? How many known vonnes aren't being
Speaker 2: fixed and why? Percentage of systems with no open high
Speaker 2: critical volns big one for execs and vulnerability aging. How
Speaker 2: long are vlones sitting unfixed?
Speaker 1: So a continuous cycle of find, prioritize, fix, measure report.
Speaker 2: That's vulnerability management in a nutshell.
Speaker 1: Few Okay, so you've just taken a really deep dive
Speaker 1: into network vulnerability assessment from the core ideas like CIA,
Speaker 1: through all those phases gathering info, testing, exploiting, and then
Speaker 1: the critical follow up like scoring, modeling, patching, reporting. You
Speaker 1: should now have a much more solid handle on digital security.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and understanding this isn't just technical jerk, and it's
Speaker 2: really about appreciating the continuous effort involved in keeping things
Speaker 2: safe online. It hopefully lets you ask better questions, think
Speaker 2: more critically about the security of your own devices, your data,
Speaker 2: the services you use.
Speaker 1: So what really stands out to you from all this
Speaker 1: maybe it's just how meticulous the planning has to be,
Speaker 1: or how often that human element social engineering is the
Speaker 1: weak link, or perhaps realizing that something basic like availability
Speaker 1: can be hit by well, a power cut or a flood,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, Keep learning, keep asking questions, and keep
Speaker 1: exploring